Learning to love for Love’s sake.

I had always thought that seeking to understand God to whatever extent we can is part of one’s Christian duty, as it would help us develop a better relationship with Him and thus be inspired towards lovingkindness. But the challenge in doing so is best illustrated in my difficulties in seeing God in every person. The usual conclusion I get from each exercise is I wasn’t given the grace, which at times seems like something beautiful seen in a display window of shop that one frequently passes by but never considers entering.

Grace is not something bought but is freely given, though, and it’s another thing I’ve realized about free will and love. If God is love, then He chose to love us to the extent of becoming one of us, even if He understood fully well who we are. He gave us free will, and all He wants us to do with it is to learn how to see what He saw, that in each and every one of us there lies the meaning of love.

What we do when we finally realize it, the truth that God died for us and what it means, is entirely up to us. It’s a terrifying fact, and one most human minds shy away from contemplating. To those who will choose to set forth in answering the call of love, it is the beginning of the most dangerous adventure of their lives.

There are many instructions, but there is only one rule: We have to believe that the reward of love is worth seeing it through the end.

I have decided to take my Lent reflections one thought at a time. (And yes, this is my closest approximation to one linear thought at a time.)